So That, Although He Was A Foreigner, He Could At Any
Time Have Become The Massaniello Of Seville.
A more honest
creature I never saw, and I soon found that if I employed him,
notwithstanding his eccentricities, I might entertain perfect
confidence that his actions would be no disparagement to the book
he vended.
We were continually pressed for Bibles, which of course we could
not supply. Testaments were held in comparatively little esteem.
I had by this time made the discovery of a fact which it would have
been well had I been aware of three years before; but we live and
learn. I mean the inexpediency of printing Testaments, and
Testaments alone, for Catholic countries. The reason is plain:
the Catholic, unused to Scripture reading, finds a thousand things
which he cannot possibly understand in the New Testament, the
foundation of which is the Old. "Search the Scriptures, for they
bear witness of me," may well be applied to this point. It may be
replied, that New Testaments separate are in great demand, and of
infinite utility in England, but England, thanks be to the Lord, is
not a papal country; and though an English labourer may read a
Testament, and derive from it the most blessed fruit, it does not
follow that a Spanish or Italian peasant will enjoy similar
success, as he will find many dark things with which the other is
well acquainted, and competent to understand, being versed in the
Bible history from his childhood. I confess, however, that in my
summer campaign of the preceding year, I could not have
accomplished with Bibles what Providence permitted me to effect
with Testaments, the former being far too bulky for rural journeys.
CHAPTER XLIX
The Solitary House - The Dehesa - Johannes Chrysostom - Manuel -
Bookselling at Seville - Dionysius and the Priests - Athens and Rome-
-Proselytism - Seizure of Testaments - Departure from Seville.
I have already stated, that I had hired an empty house in Seville,
wherein I proposed to reside for some months. It stood in a
solitary situation, occupying one side of a small square. It was
built quite in the beautiful taste of Andalusia, with a court paved
with small slabs of white and blue marble. In the middle of this
court was a fountain well supplied with the crystal lymph, the
murmur of which, as it fell from its slender pillar into an
octangular basin, might be heard in every apartment. The house
itself was large and spacious, consisting of two stories, and
containing room sufficient for at least ten times the number of
inmates which now occupied it. I generally kept during the day in
the lower apartments, on account of the refreshing coolness which
pervaded them. In one of these was an immense stone water-trough,
ever overflowing with water from the fountain, in which I immersed
myself every morning. Such were the premises to which, after
having provided myself with a few indispensable articles of
furniture, I now retreated with Antonio and my two horses.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 355 of 424
Words from 186170 to 186672
of 222596
